Knowledge Justice Excellence

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Coleman Mahler

Fun with Family History

04 Nov 2009, 5:28PM

    I've always been a bit curious about my family's history, but have never really taken the time to learn about it. That changed on Tuesday when I interviewed my great aunt for my Women's and Gender Studies class, History of U.S. Feminisms. The purpose of the assignment is to interview a feminist, or someone who has supported women's rights in the past, and then prepare an oral presentation and written report about them. I thought my aunt would be a great candidate, and I had the secret motive of asking her about my family's past.
    The assignment was quite different from anything I've done before, and while the main purpose is to learn about different types of women in the feminist movement, another is to teach students how to interview people, a key skill for any historian or sociologist. The professors were able to offer their advice on interviewing techniques and I really enjoyed trying to develop this new skill. At the end of the Semester all the students will go to one of the professor's houses, eat a potluck dinner and do all the presentations. I'm really looking forward to it.

tags: academics

— Coleman Mahler  Coleman Mahler is a Freshman at Brandeis this Fall. His major is undecided, but he is interested History, Creative Writing, Literature, NEJS and a host of other areas. He runs a current events radio program on WBRS Brandeis Radio, and is involved with SEA, Students for Environmental Action.